


Don't say it

by DigiConjurer



Series: The unsorted adventures of Princess Byleth and the Black Eagles [65]
Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Adoption, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Dragons, F/F, Fire Emblem: Three Houses Black Eagles Route, M/M, Minor Character Death, Other, Pre-Timeskip | Academy Phase (Fire Emblem: Three Houses), Spoilers, Spoilers for Pre-Timeskip | Academy Phase (Fire Emblem: Three Houses), Teacher-Student Relationship, chapter 6
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-03
Updated: 2020-11-16
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:15:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,760
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27358609
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DigiConjurer/pseuds/DigiConjurer
Summary: As it turns out, maybe shouting about things you purposely kept hidden isn't the best idea.
Relationships: Caspar von Bergliez/Linhardt von Hevring, Catherine/Shamir Nevrand, Dorothea Arnault/My Unit | Byleth, Edelgard von Hresvelg/Bernadetta von Varley, Ferdinand von Aegir/Hubert von Vestra, Petra Macneary/Mercedes von Martritz
Series: The unsorted adventures of Princess Byleth and the Black Eagles [65]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1463725





	1. Oops

I don't own Fire Emblem.

* * *

Seteth knew he had fucked up. Between unintentionally gaining the attention of the dragon slayers and now his own daughter, there really wasn’t much in the way of outs. Even if there somehow was, Byleth would definitely stop him from doing that. Accursed blade. Why did now of all times such a thing needed to rear its ugly head? Much less on a very important day to him. No wins today to be found.

“For starters, tell us how the fuck you did that trick with the dragon.” Edelgard barked, her gaze right on Seteth. Well, this is already off to a wonderful start. Though, I guess expecting it to go any other way would be silly. This whole thing is a shitshow and a half. But I digress.

“I am a dragon.” Seteth countered, who I do hope you realize who absolutely silly that probably sounds in the first. Yes, Corrin is mostly dragon. Both royal families are part dragon (as weird as that sounds), but this is on a whole different level. A level that brings with it a variety of questions that aren’t particularly easy to answer. Questions like - 'Are there more people like you?', 'What does one need to do to turn into a dragon?' or best of all 'Is your daughter a dragon as well?'. That's going to be an awkward conversation once this is all said and done. Or perhaps something that simple would be swept under the rug. Sounds like the Gareg Mach way of things. "And before you ask, no. There are no special effects at work. Just magic, innate only to a select few."

Okay… that makes you sound even crazier than you already were. The bar isn't particularly high when it comes to that. Or my standards have steadily dropped from the start of this series to now. Uh… don't answer that, Mozu.

"If you're one of these special people who can do this 'magic', where are the rest of you?" Hubert countered and got a look from Ferdinand of all people. To be fair, the stones he throws out are one step removed from actual spells. The only real difference is the need to memorize, scribe them down and a stick. Now that I write that out, more than a step removed. My point still stands.

"Dead." Seteth answered, his gaze swiveling over to Byleth of all people. "Sothis fucking forbid that people look beyond themselves and actually accept that mankind can coexist with another culture not like their own. But no! That's asking too much."

Byleth slowly approached her boss. A million different questions surged within. What did Sothis do this time? Was there somehow a connection within all of that to things beyond her grasp? Or was this somehow a whole different issue entirely? Maybe this mess has something to do with the people who called Edelgard the other day. Probably a coincidence. 

"What’s this about Sothis?" the professor countered and pointed the sword of the creator at Seteth. I do hope you realize that's only going to piss him off even more. You haven’t even gotten him all bound up. At any moment, he could just transform back and just fly away. Better yet, why not do that right now. No real use in telling us things that would put others at risk for no particular reason. Doubt he will, but still good to keep in mind.

“The goddess Sothis.” Seteth countered, the sword getting even closer now. Wrong answer. Expecting her of all people just to know? That’s playing with fire. Fire not so easily put out. Mercenaries are always like that. Strike one down. “Do you not know who created this world?”

No, actually. Outside of a series of coincidences that created a world and then two countries sort of showed up to fight it over. That’s probably not even close to the actual explanation of how Nohr and Hoshido came along. Probably involved a lot of bloodshed, dragons and incest. It wasn’t even a couple of generations ago that people began to see that practice as awful and squicky. Yes, outliers do exist. But they are thankfully easily brought down to reality. Or just killed. People sometimes aren’t very picky when it comes to those two options. But that’s beyond the point.

“Uh… no, actually.” Byleth countered and looked away. She was way out of her league. One of her students had to know something about this strange history.

“She’s the supposed creator of Fodlan.” Dorothea chimed in and found Seteth’s gaze on her. “Most of it was destroyed in a fire. Only a single page remained. When I showed it to Manuela, she was just as confused as me."

Hubert and Linhardt’s focus swiveled over to her. I’m guessing you two have a far greater grasp on this. Good. You can be the ones who fill us in properly on what the fuck is possibly going on. Maybe start out at the beginning or something.

“Close enough.” Seteth muttered, sitting himself up. Not going to lie, would look a hell of a lot cooler if he was in his dragon form. Just me? Okay. Yes, they could totally give him a chair. But where’s the fun in that? “There is much to this story beyond that. Far too many stories perhaps. Better they be left buried in the hands of our enemies than in your hands.”

In other words, you just blew them all off for the sake of protecting them from something that they might not know exists. Bravo. Truly a gold star moment, Seteth. Would be an absolute shame if someone decided to kidnap you and hold you captive. Not that anyone would, but that might be a far better way to actually get any information out of this bozo.

"How is that better then?" Petra countered and took a step forward. Sword in hand, Catherine and Edelgard were right behind. They too had their weapons still out. Wait. Wasn’t Petra near the back? Just making sure. “Wouldn’t that mean that they have some kind of edge over us when we come to face them?”

Seteth looked away, his gaze finding its way over to Flayn of all people. Muttering something under his breath, I can only imagine what information he’s trying to tell her. If it’s actually infor-

Red burst forth from Seteth’s chest, his body already shifting about. What? Uh… that wasn’t part of the plan at all. Not that a plan existed in the first place. Or is there something else at work here? Did someone believe that this random sod was going 

“Ms Varley, would you come over?” Seteth muttered and knelt down. Bernadetta complied, not completely sure what the fuck is going on. Which could be the motto of this day in a nutshell. Among many other things. “I wish I could’ve been a better godparent. Would you please take Flayn into your care?”

The words roll out, the countess's gaze turning to her new sibling. Yeah, let's go with that. Calling her 'daughter' would be morbid and creepy. Especially when you need to explain this to the rest of the staff.

"I can do that." Bernadetta answered and shook Seteth’s hand. Overhead, dark clouds began to form. Thunder rumbled across the beach as lightning made its approach. Turning back around, her focus turned to Byleth. "My family's property shouldn't be that far away."

The professor sheathed her sword, shooting Seteth one last glance. Part of her debated using her mystical time powers, but what the hell could she even do to change this outcome? Or would've that made this all worse? She didn't know.

"Lead the way."


	2. Loose lips

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We walk back to Bernadetta's seaside manor, with a couple (known) bombshells dropped.

I don't own Fire Emblem.

* * *

Bernadetta von Varley didn't know how to feel about any of this. After all the obstacles she had overcome, this felt as if someone was mocking her. Between facing down her mother after about a month (at least) and now the possibility of raising a dragon in human disguise, who wouldn’t be out of gas and ready to throw in the towel. Not her. No, she was going to need to solve this. How exactly, she wasn’t certain.

“What’s your mom like?” Flayn inquired and watched her new mom look away. After what happened a couple of months ago, it’s likely that the full details of Count Varley were most definitely swept under the rug. If some parts weren’t, it was probably only things that wouldn’t make the church look bad. If anything, more surprising that they didn't use this as an opportunity to spin this as something that Seiros did to exact punishment on this moron. Probably not enough to prevent a future war.

“She’s a mother.” Edelgard answered and grabbed hold of her girlfriend’s hand. A squeeze followed. Probably best to leave it at that. “Though, I assume that Seteth had a special someone too. Do you remember anything about her?”

Silence, Flayn's gaze turning to Byleth. Glaring her way, the professor didn't even look back. This whole paralogue beach trip thing has been quite a failure. Even before Seteth dying by way of unknown causes. Still in the same place that we were yesterday.

"Flayn, did Seteth actually have information or did you just drag us into this so you could see where your dad went?"

The dragon hybrid looked away. Closing her eyes, she tried her hardest to remember. Something had to be there. It couldn't have been that long since her death. But try as she might, nothing came back to her. Better yet, all the places she had held memories of were now buried underneath or destroyed by some force that wanted no part in dealing with dragons in the long term. Kind of like those dragonslayer people. Perhaps that was why she had slept for so long. Maybe part of her hoped that this nightmare would go away and life wouldn't be as hectic. Peaceful, even. That was sadly not the case. It was perhaps worse now than it used to be. How that could even be possible she wasn't sure.

"It was a very long time ago and I don't remember." Flayn muttered, tears rolling down from her now open eyes. “Everything has changed and there’s no way back.”

Bernadetta turned around and ran over to her adopted daughter. A hug followed, Edelgard making her way over to join in the gesture. 

"While we're not sure how to help you, we're there for you." the emperor remarked and got a look from her girlfriend. Yes, it might be a bit early to promise that before you've even signed the adoption papers. Thankfully, you have someone who has a grasp on that paperwork. Just need to ask. Though, would you need to declare that Flayn is part-dragon? I doubt Nohr did that with Corrin. I don't think she ever got proper citizenship ei- Yes, I did finally get around to getting mine fixed. Even if it was an absolute mess explaining my age to the people. Kind of surprised that they even took it in the first place. Hopefully, I won't have to do that again anytime soon. Whatever the case, the trio ended their embrace and returned their focus back to the beach. Up ahead, a villa awaited. Not the biggest one I've ever seen, but still a pretty good size. Probably has a massive staff of people more than happy to have a change in management.

"Just a little bit further." Bernadetta announced and took a deep breath. Out in the distance, Wifey awaited. Even with every part of her former self twisted and changed so that it no longer resembled the wicked beast that once attempted unspeakable things, the countess was still on edge. The last thing any of them needed was her remembering something from back then or Shamir flipping out over everything they had done a couple months ago. Cross that bridge once you g-

"Bernadetta!"

Out in the distance, a cloud of dust began to form. Approaching relatively fast, you fuckers might want to get out of the way. Last thing Byleth needs is one of you to get crushed. Yet, Bernadetta slowly made her way towards the cloud of dust. Letting out a sigh, her bow came back out. Waiting a couple seconds, the countess notched an arrow back and let it fly. Soaring through the air, her projectile landed at the feet of the dust cloud. Brought them to a stop. Still need to wait a couple seconds for the dust to actually settle.st to actually settle to see who it is. Definitely Wifey. Even if that sounds incredibly ludicrous and dumb. Dressed in a floral pinafore and heels, her hair was done up in a purple bouffant, their face perpetually trapped in a constantly smiling state. The violet lipstick and makeup is a nice touch. Even if she dis just ruin it by running through that cloud.

“Is that what remains of Count Varley?” Shamir added and got a deep breath from Edelgard. This is going to be interesting.

“For the better.” the emperor countered, getting a look from her opponent. To be fair, she has no clue how fucking deep this mess goes and everything that fucker did. “Gareg Mach would be in flames had we not snuffed that fucker out.”

Her words roll out, Shamir’s gaze turning to Bernadetta. Bow now down, that didn’t make her any less scarier. A smile hung over her face, eyes staring directly into the mercenary’s soul.

“Ms Shamir, some demons are better left to wallow in their own sins.” Bernadetta announced, slowly making her way towards Wifey. She got you there. Even if calling that a ‘victory’ would be stretching it. More a ‘ceasefire’. Sounds right for this situation.

“It’s been so long!” Wifey announced, carefully wrapping her arms around Bernadetta. Accepting the gesture, she returned it with a hug of her own. Though I suspect hers isn’t quite as sincere as her mother’s. “How have things been now that you’ve put me in my place?”

Bernadetta looked over to Edelgard. While the emperor was already making her way over to the pair, she still gave a nod. Doesn’t explain why she’s continuing to keep that axe out. Guess old habits die hard. Especially in the face of wounds still in the process of healing.

“You even caught the emperor! I’m so proud of you!” Wifey continued, letting go of Bernadetta and grabbing hold of Edelgard. Unlike her daughter, she wasn't so keen on this affection. Don't really blame her. Even if Wifey did come awfully close to getting stabbed with the axe head. Wait. How the hell does she know that Edelgard is now the emperor? That isn't publicly available information. Unless… You know what? I'm not even surprised.

"You have a lot of talking to do." Edelgard announced, the gazes of Catherine, Shamir and to some extent - Flayn of all people bore their way into her skull. An already long day now even longer because of one stupid slip of the tongue. But she could use this to her advantage. Two could play at this game.


	3. Dead Dove

I don't own Fire Emblem.

* * *

If there was one word to describe the mood of the walk to the villa, awkward described it best. Every step brought with it a constant glare from Shamir. Not really directed at anyone, still annoying nonetheless.

"Did Wifey do something wrong?" Wifey whispered, her succubi attire now visible for all to see. In my defense, those parts were obscured by the dust. Bernadetta shook her head. How does one tell a person that they are the reason why someone is staring? Yes, a succubus housewife is not normal. Neither are dragons. Whatever fairy tales and myths shared by the Fodlan people are bound to have some truth to them. How much exactly, depends on the person telling it.

"No, she just doesn't understand the why of this." Bernadetta answered and turned around. Letting out a deep breath, her focus turned to Shamir. “I get that this is all confusing, complicated and fucked up. But could you not stare at her?”

Shamir muttered something under her breath and looked over to her partner. Catherine hadn’t really said a word since Seteth had died. There had been glances, but nothing from the most free-spirited woman she knew. What thoughts were going through that head of hers to bring her to silence.

“Do you know anything about this?” the mercenary whispered and watched her girlfriend come to a stop. A deep breath followed.

“The last time Count Varley and Rhea crossed paths… things didn’t go so well.” Catherine whispered and looked to the ground. “Rhea threatened to eat him, then use his (well, her) own children as toys for her own twisted games. When Count Varley refused, she then threatened to eat everyone.”

Vomit exited her mouth, Bernadetta’s gaze now on Catherine. Fuck. Mozu, I’m going to need you to switch in with me. This is going to be a challenge to get through. Yes, I’m very much aware that this isn’t your cup of tea either. If I make you a cup of hot chocolate, would you feel better? I thought so.

…

Mozu here, I guess? Nyx is off bribing me with sweet beverages so she doesn't have to deal with this mess. Don't blame her for feeling that way. I kind of do too, but one of us has to narrate this mess. But I'm not doing this next time. She'll have to power through. I'm kidding. I would never do that. You have your limits and I respect that. That doesn't mean I think you should try and push yourself though. Is that clear? Good. We’re on the same page.

In the time it took for us to figure that out, the villa was now in view. Maids were currently walking about the perimeter, not at all happy about this. Maybe they need to invest in better security. That's what most farms do to keep people from getting in. Though, I haven't been on one in some time. Maybe they've somehow came up with a better solution for making sure that their livestock isn't wandering about the streets and causing trouble for everyone.

“There you are! You can’t be running off, dragging random people over to our property.” a woman announced, her gaze finding its way over to Wifey and Bernadetta. More the latter than the former. "Ms Bernadetta! It's nice to see you. How have you been?"

Bernadetta looked away, Edelgard already heading over. Clearing her throat, the axe is finally going away. Not sure why it took so long to do that. Seems like an easy gesture to do. Even in the face of things like half-dragons and possible coups. But what do I know?

"We've been better." the countess explained and grabbed her girlfriend’s hand. A gesture that Wifey took as her moment to step towards the servant. "Though, I was under the impression that no one was communicating with our housewife. But it seems that is not the case."

The maid’s gaze shifted solely to Wifey. Muttering something under her breath, she stepped closer. Why do I get the feeling I know what’s about to happen? I’m not particularly sure why or really how, but this is obviously a punishment. I don’t even want to imagine what Count Varley would’ve done in this situation. Probably something involving domestic assault and rape. Probably not in that order, but may at the same time.

“Wifey was a bad girl.” Wifey muttered as she bent over, the woman taking this as her opportunity to swat her ass a half-dozen times. “Wifey didn’t know they were going to contact me. Then they threatened to do bad things to Wifey if Wifey didn’t listen.”

Bernadetta turned to Edelgard. Whispers echoed between the pair, their companions running up. Well, this is a wonderful mess we find ourselves in. We all knew this was coming, right? After Count Varley fell to you people, there really wasn’t anything to actually prevent them from going ‘fuck it, we’re going to take over the government again’. Perhaps the first order of business after this might be cleaning house and starting anew. Or something along those lines. Beyond the point.

“What exactly did they threaten to do?” Cherry called out, making her way towards the front of the group. Lysithea was right behind, but only because her guardian was holding her hand at the time. Any other reason would be just silly.

“Mostly stuff involving murder and possible dismemberment of me, my family and everyone else related to me.” Wifey continued as Cherry took out her phone. Uh… interesting choice. I’m not entirely sure how exactly that’s going to help you people here. Wait. Nyx, didn’t Caspar and Linhardt’s moms make reference to Cherry when they went out to destroy that warehouse. Quite damning evidence. The sort you don’t want your own spouse hearing from a trusted friend. Not enough to bring about a divorce, but come awfully close to bringing one up. Speculation, of course.

“Thank you for being upfront about this.” Edelgard announced and turned her attention back to the maid. “While it’ll take some time, we will make sure that you or the rest of the staff here at the villa are not harmed.”

The maid nodded. I can only assume that this place is on a beach in the middle of nowhere. Even if they did find it, I can only assume that the presence created would be enough to alert the people here so they could get away.

“Mom, would these people come after me as well?” Flayn inquired, Bernadetta’s gaze swiveling over to her. A deep breath followed. How the fuck are you going to explain this. No use in lyi- Thank you, Nyx. As I was saying, there’s not a real good way to say your dad was an abusive rapist who most definitely murdered your mother and who knows how many other people in the process of a petty revenge against some person. Okay, scratch the last part. Just because they couldn’t get the wonderful boy they wanted to teach all their fucking awful life lessons. Sorry. Needed that out of my system.

“I can only hope that they won’t.” Bernadetta answered, carefully grabbing hold of Flayn’s hand. A squeeze followed. While she wanted to do more, there was still a lot she needed to figure out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah. This spiraled out of control. Thankfully, this paralogue is nearing it's end.
> 
> A sort break, than the last piece of the paralogue - on a happier note. Hopefully.


End file.
